Now the Mob guys go to the lawyers......America's decline continues unabated.

Rao’s family feud could ruin food empire

By Jamie Schram

August 24, 2016 | 1:01pm

  New York Post Page Six

Mama mia! A family feud is threatening to tear apart the Rao food empire.

The majority shareholders in the legendary Italian restaurant Rao’s in Harlem and its Battery Park specialty foods business are trying to push out founding father Vincent Rao’s nephew, Ronald Straci, and his wife, Sharon, both of whom hold a smaller 25 percent stake in the company, according to papers filed Tuesday in Manhattan Supreme Court.

The couple says in their suit that they helped start the tomato sauce business in 1991 after they were initially approached with the idea by Vincent, his wife, Ann Pellegrino Rao, and another nephew, Frank Pellegrino Sr.

Strasi and several law partners each coughed up about $15,000 to start the Raos Specialty Foods at 17 Battery Place in lower Manhattan, the suit says.

They are going to the Mattresses at Rao's!

New York Post by Beth Landman July 31, 2016

The legendary Italian restaurant Rao’s is known for its warm, clubby feel, but lately there’s a chill in the dining room — and it’s not the air conditioning.

Regulars say that since Frank Pellegrino Sr. filed a lawsuit against his longtime partner Ron Straci on July 15, the tension in the tiny dining room has been palpable.

“Frankie usually sits in the first chair by the bar, and Ron stands on the far wall, but now, when one shows up, the other leaves,” says one regular, who asked to remain anonymous, lest he lose his table at the restaurant.

Says another regular: “The other night, Ron walked in, and Frankie didn’t even look at him. Then Frankie left.’’

And a third adds that he also witnessed the atypical iciness this week.

Both Pellegrino and Straci work on the floor of the restaurant, greeting diners at the bar as they arrive, and they both handle special reservation requests, so the lack of communication can get sticky. It can also be problematic for the extremely loyal and long-term staff, like bartender Nicky the Vest.